


Desperate For Money

by TheFlashpoint



Series: Hartley and the Betrayal of Francisco [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Bickering, Blind!Hartley, But its all in good fun, But its like at this point...isn't even considerd one, Fluff and Humor, Humor, I swear the tags make it sound weird, Kidnapping, Threats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 06:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15902739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFlashpoint/pseuds/TheFlashpoint
Summary: Hartley could say he wasn’t surprised he ended up in this situation. A blind kid with a family who had a big name for themselves, it’s just asking to be kidnapped. He just didn’t expect it to be so...awkward.





	Desperate For Money

Hartley could say he wasn’t surprised he ended up in this situation. A blind kid with a family who had a big name for themselves, it’s just asking to be kidnapped. He just didn’t expect it to be so...awkward. He could clearly make out the forms of the people thanks to his ability to see vibrations and man did the three of them hold themselves so….nervously? Was that how one would put it? Or at least the middle one looked nervous as they messed with their fingers, picking away at what Hartley could only assume was gloves with how the slight vibrations of the materials moved.    
  
“This was a bad idea.” Says a male voice. Gruff with a sharp edge to it.“We shouldn’t have taken him. Doesn’t seem like anyone's comin’ to help.”    
  
“Well what do you propose we do with him then? Can’t exactly just stick him back where we found him, then the Flash and his little partner would be on our tail. We have enough trouble as it is without those two speedsters.” Says a second voice, another male. He sounds more frustrated than the first with a slight hint of anger.   
  
“I think he’s pretty cute. What if we just keep him Lenny?” This voice came from a female, she was the second shortest of the group, she sounded more amused if not even just a little bit smug.   
  
“We can’t keep a person Lisa!” ‘Lenny’ snapped back. He huffed, pacing the room and throwing his arms into the air, “This was stupid. This was a terrible plan and we should have gone about it in a better way.”   
  
“We could always burn him.” The gruff one suggested. Hartley felt he may as well speak up now so they know he’s even awake.   
  
“You wouldn’t kill a blind man.” He taunted. Nothing to threatening, if anything he found this entire situation as amusing as this Lisa person did.   
  
“Try me kid.” ‘Lenny’ snapped back, “I could freeze you in seconds and you wouldn’t even realize it was happening till you had third degree frostbite.” What a threat that was. Hartley would even say he was scared if it weren't for the situation being so weird to begin with.    
  
“How about you stay back or I’ll blast you some sick sonic vibrations. Not enough to kill but totally enough to scare you off and maybe hurt you just a little.” Hartley taunted yet again. He was enjoying this little arrangement they had going, he could hear the amused laugh Lisa gave as she watched the entire situation play out.   
  
“I don’t know if you noticed kid but you’re blind and tied to a chair. Not to mention Mick took your weird gloves the second we snatched you, so no sonic vibration business is going to happen in this...compromised safe house.” This ‘Lenny’ person clearly was getting impatient. “I don’t understand your parents should have been here with the money by now.” Oh. So that’s what these people wanted.   
  
Lisa chuckled at her brother, “Listen Len, Mick, I’m not sure about you but I think we should adopt him and call it a night. I mean look at this kid, he’s helpless out there all on his own.”   
  
“Lisa I literally just told you we aren’t doing that. I really can’t take in another mouth to feed what with how many we have already. It’s hard enough feeding just Mick alone with the little cash we got. So we’re waiting here and we’re going to get the money from his parents in turn for them getting him back.”   
  
Hartley laughed even harder, startling the other three who looked to him as if he’d gone mad. “Listen guys, as fun as this is, I’m as wealthy as the next guy over thanks to S.T.A.R Labs. I use to work at the place before it completely blew up and collapsed in on itself. Let me pay for what you think I’m worth or whatever, I don’t care, I just want to go home before Alex finds out her roomate was kiddnapped.”   
  
“We could probably get more from your parents.” Mick grunted, “Parents always have more money.”   
  
Hartley rolled his eyes, “Listen big guy I hate to be the bearer of bad news for all of you but my parents could literally give less of a shit about me.” He huffed slightly, but the three continued to listen, “They disowned me because I’m gay and didn’t even visit at the hospital when I was there for god knows how long. I live with my doctor and currently work at a pretty large news company. So, let me pay what you want and then you can go before one of those heroes gets here. Honestly the fact that you didn't take my money offer in the first place must mean you aren’t really that desperate.”   
  
“Oh we’re desperate.” Lisa snorted, “Like, really desperate. You know what? I think we should take this deal Lenny, I feel maybe it’s for the best anyways. This guy obviously means well.” She turned to face her brother. Len himself deep in thought as he tried to decide if they really should take the deal.    
  
With a defeated sigh, Len handed Lisa a knife and shook his head, “If you try anything, and I mean _ anything _ , I’ll freeze you where you stand you hear me?” He snapped.   
  
“Oh stop it Lenny it’s not like you can really use your powers right.” Lisa chided, “Remember when we first found out they even existed? You gave yourself some serious hypothermia. You could have died had Mick not found you first.”   
  
“Listen, not to rush this or anything, but I’d really like to not be tied up anymore so….” Hartley pressed, “So uhm...let me go now? Please? The sooner I can get this cash to you guys the sooner we can all be out of each other's hair. You don’t even have to drop me off, I can find my own way home.” 

With one swift flick of the knife against the rope Hartley was free. Immediately he bolted up and for the door, following the slight off vibrations causing it to rattle every now and again. Yet as he got to his escape something had stopped him. It wasn’t any sort of chill the Len person had threatened previously but more a form of guilt that slowly grew in the back of Hartley’s mind.  He thought on their conversation earlier and the entire food situation Len brought up. Were they really that tight on money that they couldn’t even feed a few months?   
  
_ ‘You’re going to get yourself killed Hart’ _ he thought, begrudgingly halting and looking to the three who still stood where he had left them a few feet away. With a heavy sigh, Hartley flicked his head to the side, “You coming or am I going to have to find my way to an ATM like a baby deer on its first walk?”   
  
When the small group of criminals and Hartley finally did come across a close enough ATM, Hartley pulled out a couple hundreds and held them close to his chest. He turned, looking to Lisa (or what he assumed was Lisa) and clicking his tongue. “Now this should be enough to get you guys going for three weeks at most. Once you run out I want you to make your way to CatCo and say you’re looking for a mister Hartley Rathaway. If all goes well someone should come get me, we can get you a bit more money then okay?”    
  
Lisa nodded, hesantly taking the money from Hartley’s hand once he held it out to her. “You’d really do that for us? A group of strangers you were just kidnapped by…”   
  
“I’m a really good listener and from what I heard, you guys need the money more than I really ever would. It sounds like your life is pretty tough right now, so I’m more than happy to help you out as long as you don’t go around kidnapping me again.”    
  
Lisa pocketed the money handed to her safely within her jacket, motioning for her elder brother and his friend to follow home. Len mentioned something about staying back and that they could go on ahead without him, he had something to take care of with Hartley.   
  
Hartley dreaded what they could only be.    
  
“We made a deal, I’m going home and you guys are leaving with the money, that’s it.”   
  
“And I’m a man of my word kid. I’ll walk you home so no one tries to jump you while you’re out here on your own. You are blind remember.” Len reflected cooly. “That is...if you really are blind. Between you and me, you got to the door out pretty fast without hitting anything. You also looked at each of us when speaking and knew where Lisa was when you went to hand her your money. What’s up with you hmm? What’s your secret?”   
  
Hartley shrugged, walking after Len as he began to move. “Its kinda just been a thing I’ve had. Between you and me, I’m a meta-human as far as I know. See I lost my eyesight in that blast but...by some weird luck I just...I can  _ see  _ the vibrations of everything. Like you know how bats use echolocation where their echos bounce off an object and they can hear it? Its kinda like that but I can see it. I can see the vibrations of everything, a bright white outline of anything moving within a blurry void of color.” he chuckled, “And that’s not the only thing I have different. I got this super hearing too, no one can keep a secret around me and honestly? It’s pretty damn funny even if it is overwhelming sometimes. Alex said that my super hearing would be a lot more out of control had I been able to fully see, but because I can’t see, my brain is kinda using the next best sense which is hearing so I have some weird better kinda control over it.”   
  
“So when you said you could find your way home on your own-”   
  
“I meant it. I can literally find my way home on my own because of my hearing and the way I ‘see’ things now. Its hard but I’ve managed before.”   
  
“You’re pretty interesting kid. Sorry for being so harsh on you earlier. I mean I don’t really regret kidnapping you but trust me when I say I and my ragtag gang of metas don’t normally tend to put ourselves in situations like that. We’re all just trying to stay on the down low so no one comes after us. There’s...quite a few of us...it’s why the food situation is so bad sometimes.”   
  
Hartley hummed. “I take it none of you really have any good jobs at all?”   
  
“Any good jobs? Some of us are lucky if we can even get one let alone keep it. Have you tried going around asking for someone to hire you when you have the ability to literally freeze yourself and everything around you to death? It’s not fun or easy.” Len laughed ever so slightly, the first time Hartley really heard him calm since this entire ordeal. “If I’m right, this is the door we found you outside before we took you. It’s an apartment building so I’m assuming this is where you live.”   
  
“Thanks. Remember to be sure to get back to me when you’re low on food okay? Also please be sure to drop off my gloves. I don’t know about you and your equipment, but those things cost a fortune and weren’t easy to build.”   
  
With that, Hartley and Len parted ways, saying their goodbyes as Hartley made his way inside and Len made his way home. Alex was worried, of course, but Hartley passed it off as if he just happened to get really busy at work and went to bed.    
  
Thus started Hartley’s budding relationship with the Rogue Safe house. Every month he’d help them stock up on food and other requirements, and in turn they started to treat him as if he was one of their own. It felt good being around people who sort of understood the entire meta human thing, and as a added bonus he had Lisa as a new sister figure to talk to, the two of them babbling on about their day and the people they normally hang around. It was nice, things were good, and Hartley for once in his life after the entire S.T.A.R Labs and Hospital ordeal, felt pretty decent. 


End file.
